New to Campaigns? Some common early mistakes that might occur

New to Campaigns? Some common early mistakes that might occur

Hello Marketers,
Welcome back to another post in Marketer's Space.
If you're just getting started with Zoho Campaigns, things can feel exciting and slightly confusing at the same time. You're not alone. Most early frustrations come from setup gaps rather than product issues.

Looking at all the features in the product, many new users tend to run into the same few roadblocks. In this post, we'll breakdown what usually causes trouble (and how to avoid it). Whether you're just setting up your first campaign or refining your existing process, this post will help you build a strong foundation early.

Skipping domain authentication   

Many users start sending campaigns before setting up SPF and DKIM properly. Here's what happens when they skip it:
  1. Emails are visibly sent from "via zcsend.net".
  2. They encounter lower inbox placement.
  3. They result in trust issues in Gmail or Outlook.
Domain authentication isn't optional if you care about deliverability; it should be step one.

What can you do instead?
  1. Add and verify your sending domain inside Zoho Campaigns before launching your first campaign.
  2. Configure SPF and DKIM records in your domain's DNS settings.
  3. Wait for verification confirmation before sending in bulk.
  4. Run a small test campaign after setup to confirm proper alignment.
Authentication issues don't just affect inbox placement; they can also prevent campaigns from going out altogether.

Campaign moves back to draft after sending   

This often happens because one of the final checks fails—like sender verification, mandatory fields, or authentication settings.
Before clicking send, ensure the following:
  1. Your sender email is verified.
  2. Authentication (SPF/DKIM) is properly configured.
  3. You've reviewed the campaign checklist inside the editor carefully.
Most "failure to send" cases are configuration-related, not system errors.

Uploading large or unclean contact lists without preparation   

Many new users decide to import a large database and send a campaign immediately. Others upload lists that haven't been cleaned in months or years. Both situations can quietly hurt performance.
Common issues include:
  1. Importing thousands of old or inactive contacts at once
  2. Sending to contacts who haven't engaged in a long time
  3. Including duplicate entries
  4. Not removing bounced or inactive addresses
What does this lead to?
  1. Low open and click rates
  2. Higher bounce rates
  3. Increased spam complaints
  4. Poor sender reputation
For new accounts especially, this can impact deliverability very quickly.
A better way to approach this is to do the following:
  1. Start with your most engaged contacts.
  2. Gradually increase volume over time.
  3. Remove duplicates and inactive addresses.
  4. Segment your contacts based on engagement before sending.
Good deliverability isn't just about authentication; it's also about list hygiene and sending behavior.

Open rates show zero (especially in Gmail)

Open tracking depends on images being loaded. If the recipient's email client blocks images by default, if privacy protection is enabled (especially on Apple devices), or if images are preloaded differently, the open may not register.
This is common with:
  1. Gmail (especially with image blocking)
  2. Privacy-focused email settings
  3. Apple Mail privacy protection
A sudden drop in open rate doesn't always mean your emails aren't being read.
So what is the fix?
  1. Send internal test emails to see if tracking pixels are functioning.
  2. Use A/B tests to validate subject line performance rather than judging from one send.
  3. Compare trends over a period of time instead judging from one campaign.
Your open rate should be treated as an indicator, not as an exact measurement—because it isn't.

Automation doesn't trigger for everyone   

A common assumption is that once automation is active, it applies to all contacts, and users forget that building automations without testing entry conditions might never yield expected results.
A workflow may look correct, but in reality:
  1. Contacts must meet the trigger conditions.
  2. They must enter the workflow at the correct stage.
  3. Timing filters and status settings matter
This is usually a logic issue, not a bug. So how can you solve it?
  1. Test the workflow using a sample contact before activating it fully.
  2. Double-check entry criteria and filter rules.
  3. Review contact status and segmentation settings.
  4. Use the workflow report to confirm whether contacts entered the automation.

Not testing across devices and email services 

Emails that look perfect in the Zoho Campaigns editor may:
  1. Break in emails formatting/structure.
  2. Stack oddly on mobile displays.
  3. Misalign buttons.
The clear action is to first find out how your email looks via the Preview and Test mode, after which you can always send those test emails from the same section and see the actual results.
You can send such emails to:
  1. Gmail
  2. Outlook
  3. Mobile devices


The editor preview is not a perfectly accurate reflection of the real inbox view, so we always recommend that you test your email campaigns first across different devices and email services before sending them in bulk.

Ignoring spam score or content red flags 

The actual content of your email plays a major role in where it lands.
Common content-related mistakes include:
  1. Using heavy promotional language like "BUY NOW," "LIMITED OFFER," or excessive exclamation marks
  2. Writing subject lines that feel overly aggressive or misleading
  3. Including too many links in a short email
  4. Using shortened URLs
  5. Designing image-only emails with very little supporting text
  6. Embedding large attachments directly in the campaign
Another common oversight is not checking the spam score before sending. Even if the content feels fine, running it through the built-in checks helps identify structural red flags early.
Here's a better approach:
  1. Maintain a healthy balance between text and images.
  2. Keep links purposeful and minimal.
  3. Avoid excessive capitalization and exaggerated claims.
  4. Write subject lines that are clear rather than sensational.
  5. Test-send and review how the email appears in different inboxes.
Sending successful campaigns is all about earning inbox trust through clean structure and responsible messaging.

If you're just starting out, take your time with the setup. A well-configured account will always outperform a rushed campaign.

If you've already encountered one or more of these issues, you're not alone; they're all part of the learning curve. Feel free to share your experiences or additional insights in the comments below. Your input might help another marketer avoid the same roadblock.

Until next time, happy campaigning!

Regards,
Yashwanth S
User Education
Zoho Campaigns Team

    Access your files securely from anywhere

        All-in-one knowledge management and training platform for your employees and customers.






                              Zoho Developer Community




                                                    • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                    • Digest


                                                    • Functions


                                                    • Meetups


                                                    • Kbase


                                                    • Resources


                                                    • Glossary


                                                    • Desk Marketplace


                                                    • MVP Corner


                                                    • Word of the Day


                                                    • Ask the Experts





                                                              Manage your brands on social media



                                                                    Zoho TeamInbox Resources



                                                                        Zoho CRM Plus Resources

                                                                          Zoho Books Resources


                                                                            Zoho Subscriptions Resources

                                                                              Zoho Projects Resources


                                                                                Zoho Sprints Resources


                                                                                  Qntrl Resources


                                                                                    Zoho Creator Resources



                                                                                        Zoho CRM Resources

                                                                                        • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                          CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                        • Kaizen

                                                                                          Kaizen

                                                                                        • Functions

                                                                                          Functions

                                                                                        • Meetups

                                                                                          Meetups

                                                                                        • Kbase

                                                                                          Kbase

                                                                                        • Resources

                                                                                          Resources

                                                                                        • Digest

                                                                                          Digest

                                                                                        • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                          CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        • MVP Corner

                                                                                          MVP Corner









                                                                                            Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                            Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                            Get Started Now


                                                                                              Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                                Zoho Writer

                                                                                                Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                                Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                  Zoho CRM コンテンツ



                                                                                                    Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                        ご検討中の方




                                                                                                                • Recent Topics

                                                                                                                • Trying to validate user's age through DoB

                                                                                                                  We have a form where a user enters their birthdate. We'd like a rule that counts whether the user is over or under 25 years of age. This amounts to 9125 days elapsed between today and an easy way to do this would be to use conditional rule Is Before [x]
                                                                                                                • Invoice date is incorrect

                                                                                                                  I'm trying to pull a report of Sales Orders and filter by Invoice Date. (ex: all of 2025) Unfortunately, the filter still returns lots of SO's from other years including 2026 which would be impossible to have an invoice in 2025 from a 2026 order. It's
                                                                                                                • Query on Tracking Visitor Activity with Zoho Forms & SalesIQ

                                                                                                                  I have a query regarding Zoho Forms, Zoho SalesIQ, and Zoho CRM. I have embedded a Zoho Forms form on my website, and I’m trying to understand if it’s possible to capture a user’s website activity (such as pages visited, visit count, etc.) when they submit
                                                                                                                • Understanding tasks

                                                                                                                  So we have a module linked to contacts called Equipment and that in turn has a related module called service calls. Often on a service call we want add a task but we are not able. I think it needs a link to the contact. WE therefore tried to add tasks
                                                                                                                • How to transfer files from Creator file upload fields to CRM file upload fields

                                                                                                                  This article describes how to transfer files from Zoho Creator file upload fields to Zoho CRM file upload fields. I'm posting it here because the current documentation does not fully and accurately describe how to do this with certain file types (PDF,
                                                                                                                • Add Comprehensive Accessibility Features to Zoho Writer

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho Writer Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request to enhance Zoho Writer with a full set of accessibility tools, similar to the accessibility options already available in the Zoho Desk agent interface. 🚧 Current
                                                                                                                • ¿Puedo migrar mi sitio desde WordPress a Zoho? ¿Zoho admite herramientas con código personalizado?

                                                                                                                  ¡Hola comunidad! Estoy evaluando la posibilidad de migrar mi sitio web https://calculadoradenotas.cl/ desde WordPress a una solución Zoho, y tengo algunas dudas técnicas que espero puedan aclararme. Mi sitio no es solo informativo: es una herramienta
                                                                                                                • Introducing SlyteUI : From Idea to a Working Interface in Minutes

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone! Are you spending hours building basic UIs? Does even the smallest customization feel like a major task? CRM customization should feel intuitive and straightforward, not time consuming or exhausting. SlyteUI makes this possible by simplifying
                                                                                                                • Make Task ID and Issue ID columns filterable like all other columns

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request regarding the Task ID and Issue ID columns in Zoho Projects list views. Current Limitation: As of now, in both the Tasks and Issues modules, almost every visible
                                                                                                                • Improve Back Navigation (X Button) Inside Nested Milestones, Task Lists, Tasks, and Issues

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho Projects Team, We would like to request an improvement to the X / close button navigation behavior inside milestones. Currently, the milestone area behaves as a nested hierarchy (tree structure): Project → Milestone → Task List → Task So when
                                                                                                                • Add a way to connect Log360 Cloud logs with Zoho analytics

                                                                                                                  Hi, Several month ago Log360 Cloud was added to zoho one - and this is great. But as far as I see there is no prebuilt way to connect Zoho analytics to the logs we have in Log360 Cloud. Please add a prebuilt connection like we have for so many other zoho
                                                                                                                • Extend GitHub Commit Integration to Tasks in Zoho Projects

                                                                                                                  Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request regarding the current GitHub integration in Zoho Projects, specifically the ability to link commit information. Current Limitation: As of now, Zoho Projects
                                                                                                                • Enable Screen Recording in Zoho WorkDrive Mobile Apps (Android & iOS)

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho WorkDrive Team, How are you? We are enthusiastic Zoho One users and rely heavily on Zoho WorkDrive for internal collaboration and content sharing. The screen-recording feature in the WorkDrive web app (similar to Loom) is extremely useful- however,
                                                                                                                • Zoho Project - Total Forecasted Hours

                                                                                                                  Does anyone know an easy way to get a total of all the forecasted hours across the portfolio? I'm aware trying to create a custom report that can generate this figure for each task and the total up but the completion percentage doesn't seem to come back
                                                                                                                • Bank Fees - Allow User to Choose Expense Account

                                                                                                                  Bank fees from Customer Payments can only be debited against the system Bank Fees account due to hard-coding. The user should be able to select which expense account those fees are debited against. The use case is pretty straightforward. A business like
                                                                                                                • Attendance Kiosk Mode for all Employees

                                                                                                                  Is it possible to assign a tablet (ios/android) so that all employees can check in or out using a simple QR code? If not would it be possible to integrate attendance with a web app that also has a tablet app that works in kiosk mode? If yes can anyone recommend such an app?
                                                                                                                • How can we get payment status updates for payment links in Zoho Books using webhooks?

                                                                                                                  When we create and share a payment link in Zoho Books, is there a way to know when the payment is updated? Can we use webhooks to get real-time updates for payment link status instead of checking manually?
                                                                                                                • Update to CRM Custom Buttons: Collect Users' Location

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone! Buttons in Zoho CRM allow you to extend the default CRM capabilities for your bespoke business needs. It provides the flexibility to connect to any third-party application to perform necessary actions. Wouldn't it be better, if those buttons
                                                                                                                • Introducing note actions and dynamic visibility in Kiosk Studio

                                                                                                                  Hello all, We are introducing enhancements to Kiosk Studio that will improve the product scope and meet your custom needs more precisely. What's new? Add notes as Actions: You can add notes to CRM records as kiosk Actions, as well as insert merge fields
                                                                                                                • CRM x WorkDrive: We're rolling out the WorkDrive-powered file storage experience for existing users

                                                                                                                  Release plan: Gradual rollout to customers without file storage add-ons, in this order: 1. Standalone CRM 2. CRM Plus and Zoho One DCs: All | Editions: All Available now for: - Standalone CRM accounts in Free and Standard editions without file storage
                                                                                                                • Challenges with data consistency when integrating Zoho with other systems

                                                                                                                  In setups where Zoho (CRM/Inventory) is connected with external systems like eCommerce platforms, maintaining consistent and reliable data across systems can be challenging. Some common issues that tend to come up: Product data mismatches (variants, pricing
                                                                                                                • Logging Calls not working

                                                                                                                  For some reason, logging calls is not working anymore. Description of problem: On a Lead's record, in the "Open Activities" block, clicked on "Add New" Clicked on "Call", clicked on "Log a call" Nothing happens. If I click on "Schedule a call" nothings
                                                                                                                • Announcing Zoho Sheet desktop app for macOS and Windows (Beta)

                                                                                                                  Hello Sheet users, We know you’ve been waiting for this one. It has always been the top priority on our roadmap to provide a single native desktop app for macOS and Windows that works both online and offline. Today, we are excited to announce that the
                                                                                                                • Zoho Mail Android app update: UI revamp

                                                                                                                  Hello everyone! We are excited to share that the first phase of the Zoho Mail Android UI revamp is now live. In this update, we have redesigned navigation bar at the bottom to quickly access the Email, Calendar, Contacts, and Settings modules. Also, the
                                                                                                                • Records Per Page

                                                                                                                  Can we get max number of records per page increased from 100 to 250 and 500 please? Or alternatively allow us to use the Zoho Sheet View for all records and not just the max 100 showing on the page? thanks.
                                                                                                                • This campain is on hold

                                                                                                                  Trying to start a Zoho Campaign for our company but the error message when we try to send it out it this: This campaign is on hold Our compliance team needs additional information about your sender domain address. They'll reach out to you shortly via
                                                                                                                • Blueprint transitions on locked records

                                                                                                                  We use the ability to automatically lock records (quotes, sales orders, etc.) based on criteria, such as stage. For instance, if a quote has been sent to a client, the quote is then locked for further edits. Our ideal quote stage process is: Draft>Sent>Won.
                                                                                                                • Whatsapp Limitation Questions

                                                                                                                  Good day, I would like to find out about the functionality or possibility of all the below points within the Zoho/WhatsApp integration. Will WhatsApp buttons ever be possible in the future? Will WhatsApp Re-directs to different users be possible based
                                                                                                                • Sales Ordes removes TAX at random for some or all prodcuts, even after creating it

                                                                                                                  Hi at Zoho CRM, in the Sales Orders section, when Creating, Cloning or editing any Sales Orders the TAX of one or all products gets "unchecked" at random. All of our products ALWAYS must have the same TAX selected automatically. At least it used to be
                                                                                                                • Turning off self view in Zoho Meeting

                                                                                                                  Hi Is it possible to turn off/hide self view in meetings?  Cant see any options for it. Thanks
                                                                                                                • CRM to Desk Contact Sync Issues?

                                                                                                                  Hello, I noticed none of the contact changes in CRM are being transferred over to Desk. Anyone else experiencing this? I checked the sync history in desk and it confirms it - it doesn't show "X Contacts Synced" like it normally does.
                                                                                                                • Please add Deluge code editing for Forms

                                                                                                                  Assuming Forms is built on the same codebase as Creator, etc., it would be wonderful to be able to edit form code, cut and paste form elements across different forms, share code with other users, and so on.
                                                                                                                • Is there any workaround or method to restrict user login to a particular device

                                                                                                                  Hi, I want to restrict my CRM user from accessing the Zoho CRM/Zoho One application to the company provided devices only. As far as I have explored there is no direct way to do this. Is there any workarounds that will allow me to do this. I want to ensure
                                                                                                                • Email from CRM being Blocked or Marked as Spam by Google (and maybe more)

                                                                                                                  In the past 24 hours we’ve noticed that emails sent via Zoho CRM are being blocked or flagged as phishing, particularly by Google. The issue seems to occur specifically when emails contain links. URLs like www.domain.com or www.example.com are automatically
                                                                                                                • All new Address Field in Zoho CRM: maintain structured and accurate address inputs

                                                                                                                  Availability Update: 29 September 2025: It's currently available for all new sign-ups and for existing Zoho CRM orgs which are in the Professional edition exclusively for IN DC users. 2 March 2026: Available to users in all DCs except US and EU DC. 24
                                                                                                                • Zoho Tables - Form default entry

                                                                                                                  How so I set a form field to be populated with an entry from another table? I created a view on my source table limiting the results to just the one thing I want to see. When adding a Client via my Add Client form, I want the Client Type field to already
                                                                                                                • Payment Card or Identity form-fill from Vault?

                                                                                                                  Hello! I'm working on replacing Bitwarden with Vault and one issue I've run into is that I can't find any option to fill address and payment forms from Payment Card or Identity info that has been saved in Vault. Is there a way to do this? Is it a planned
                                                                                                                • Introducing Bin Locations In Zoho Inventory

                                                                                                                  Hello users, We are excited to let you know that your wait for the Bin Locations feature has now come to an end! Yes, you heard us right! We are here to introduce the much-awaited Bin Locations now in Zoho Inventory. But before we dive into the feature
                                                                                                                • Add Actionable “Smart Commits” for GitHub Integration

                                                                                                                  Hi Zoho Projects Team, I am submitting a feature request to introduce Smart Commits support for the GitHub integration in Zoho Projects. The Current Limitation: Currently, Zoho Projects offers a "passive" integration. Including a Task ID in a commit message
                                                                                                                • Item Details Field - New Barcode / Document option?

                                                                                                                  Is this a new feature??? its in both books and inventory.
                                                                                                                • Next Page